No sacred cows
Seating arrangements
I have a confession to make: I’m a sitzpinkler. That’s the German word for men who sit down when they…
Am I a grifter?
I’m trying to organise an event in Westminster with the journalist Isabel Oakeshott and it’s proving a bit of a…
Electric dreams
A couple of years ago I thought seriously about buying an electric car. Not a hybrid, but the full monty.…
Life is a rollercoaster
I was in Canada last week, travelling across British Columbia on a luxury train called the Rocky Mountaineer. It was…
My blue tick humiliation
I was one of the first people to take up Elon Musk’s offer to purchase a blue tick, the Twitter…
Back to the weighing scales
As another summer approaches, I’ve embarked on yet another attempt to lose weight. You’d have thought I’d have learnt my…
How to mobilise the police
I wasn’t surprised to hear that six police officers raided a pub in Essex after a customer complained about the…
Is there a curse on Queens Park Rangers?
A dark cloud has descended over Queens Park Rangers, my beloved football club. On 22 October last year, when we…
There’s no bargaining with my wife
For me, one of the joys of going abroad is bargaining with the local sellers. They name an extortionate price;…
Whose image is it anyway?
On Monday, a bill was passed by the National Assembly in France that will give courts the power to prevent…
When is a crime not a crime?
On Monday, Suella Braverman published draft guidance designed to rein in the police habit of recording a ‘non-crime hate incident’…
Me too, Isabel
I’ve been gripped by the Telegraph’s Lockdown Files. The 100,000 WhatsApp messages on Matt Hancock’s phone, handed to the paper…
The ride of my life
I was disappointed to learn that the authorities are planning to crack down on dockless bikes and electric scooters. Westminster…
I’m holding the fort
I’m currently sitting on top of a brownie point mountain. Caroline has departed for a two-week tennis freebie in Barbados,…
Mark Steyn and the free-speech question
James Delingpole and I had a blazing row on our weekly podcast on Monday. We were discussing the recent departure…
No wonder bosses are running scared
Some readers will recall the furore five years ago about the Presidents Club charity dinner at the Dorchester. The Financial…
Big Brother is watching me
About six months ago I was contacted by Big Brother Watch, the civil liberties campaign group, and asked if I…
A shed of one’s own
Two and a half years ago, I wrote a column about how I’d started sleeping in my garden office. No,…
The cynicism of Steve Baker
About ten years ago I thought seriously about becoming a Conservative MP. I jumped through a series of hoops and…
The trans rights conflict doesn’t add up
Last week, the Office for National Statistics published the data on gender identity in England and Wales, as revealed in…
Our lovely miserable minibreak
Caroline likes to rent somewhere on Airbnb between Christmas and new year to break up the winter holiday. No, not…
Don’t they know it’s Christmas?
When I imagine the perfect Christmas lunch, I think of the end of A Christmas Carol in which Scrooge turns…
When did disagreement become ‘disinformation’?
According to a quote in a recent article by the environment editor of the Times, I’m ‘the most prominent UK…
Taking the Mick
Most football fans have had their attention riveted on Qatar for the past couple of weeks, but for those of…
My prescription for surviving the winter
Winter is finally upon us and I’m relying on my usual array of tablets and powders to ward off seasonal…
